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WOW invitation urges Government intervention to save the Cape Coast

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Prime Minister John Key receives the 'Key to the Cape Coast' from WOW committee members Dick Frizzell and Keith Newman

Prime Minister John Key was given the ‘Key to the Cape Coast’ at a meet the people event in Havelock North today (Friday 19 February), and invited to spend quality time on the literal ‘edge of Hawke’s Bay’.

In making the presentation, the WOW (Walking on Water) group, representing residents from Haumoana to Cape Kidnappers, urged Mr Key and his government to help remove the barriers to having a groyne field protect the coastal community from ongoing erosion and inundation.

WOW, which is working closely with the Hastings District Council and the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council, says both local authorities claim their hands are tied by national coastal policy and the complex resource consent process which opposes hard engineering.

WOW wants Mr Key and his family to come and enjoy the best the Cape Coast has to offer in hospitality, tourism and natural scenic wonders and personally see what is at risk.

He’s being offered a generous community funded package, including two nights accommodation at the executive suite and luxury dining at Elephant Hill Estate & Winery, a meal and wine tour at Clearview Estate Winery & Restaurant, breakfast at Clifton Café and a Gannet Safaris Overland tour of the Cape Kidnappers Station and the famous Gannet Colony.

Also on the itinerary for Mr Key and his wife Bronagh and family Stephie and Max is a guided tour in an Art Deco Trust classic car with host Dick Frizzell to visit a number of local artists and craftspeople at their studios.

The ‘Key to the Cape Coast’, designed by metal sculptor Ricks Terstappen with a centrepiece crafted by Ema Scott from Stonepeace, is a symbolic welcome to Mr Key and his family, who are invited to enjoy the hospitality gift at their leisure.
The stone centrepiece on the key will be re-welded right way up as part of a Cape Coast community celebration once coastal protection plans are put right.

While Mr Key and his family won’t be hassled by local politics when they take up the offer from “this small eclectic community with a big heart”, WOW spokesman Keith Newman says he needs to be aware that locals are fearful for their future.

Several engineer’s reports confirm, that if the sea breaches the coastline and nothing is done to hold it back, it is likely to keep coming, taking with it low lying houses across Haumoana and parts of Te Awanga.

The local community has been engaging with local authorities for many years to have a groyne field put in place to deflect the brunt of the seasonal high seas and help replenish the beach.

“We face an imminent threat from erosion and inundation but we’re told that even if the community raises $500,000 to take this proposal through the complex consent process to protect itself, this is still likely to be opposed.”

The only options other than the groyne field are ‘managed retreat’ or ‘do nothing’, which Newman says is creating fear and uncertainty within the community which is now desperate to hear positive solutions to rebuild confidence in the future.

He says WOW has already proven that managed retreat is likely to cost at least three times the cost of a groyne field, much of it at taxpayer cost in replacing public infrastructure and relocating people.

WOW is asking Prime Minister Key and his government to look at the way policy is being used to prevent “common sense coastal protection” and to help find a solution to “Save the Cape Coast” which should be considered as both “a regional and a national asset,” says Newman.

“Rather than future generations of New Zealanders visiting the rugged beauty and wildness of the Cape Coast and asking ‘what disaster happened here?,’ we want them to keep saying, WOW!!”

ENDS

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